He held his son in his arms, marveling at the miracle that had been given to him. A son. He had a son!
“I love you,” he whispered.
Reluctantly, he set Henry on his feet, knowing he might have been too emotional for the child. When all this was so new to Henry, Jonah had hoped to keep a lid on his feelings and slowly get acquainted with his son.
He glanced at Kate and she turned away quickly, but not before he glimpsed tears in her own eyes. “Come on, Henry. We have to eat lunch,” she said.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, falling into step beside her.
“I’m taking you to lunch, Henry,” Jonah said. “Where do you like to eat?”
The boy looked up questioningly at his mom. “If you insist, Jonah, let’s go to a cafeteria so he can eat some vegetables,” she said.
“Sure,” Jonah agreed. “Did you go to preschool, Henry?”
“No, sir,” he replied.
“He starts kindergarten this year,” Kate said.
Wondering about his son’s life, Jonah continued asking questions and getting yes or no for an answer. He held the car doors for Kate and Henry, noticing his ex-wife’s long, shapely legs when she slid into the vehicle.
At the cafeteria Henry stood in the line between them. Fighting the temptation to constantly touch him, as if to reassure himself that Henry was real, Jonah watched him, taking in everything he did, marveling at the child.
As they started through the line, Jonah leaned down to Henry’s level. “You get whatever you want to eat. Anything.”
Wide-eyed, Henry looked up at Kate, and she nodded, giving Jonah a searching look.
“I want that,” Henry replied, pointing to a bowl of bright blue cubes of gelatin.
Jonah couldn’t resist brushing Henry’s head lightly. When the boy turned to look up at him, Jonah smiled. Henry smiled in return and then his attention went back to the food spread before him. In minutes he had a tray filled with fried chicken, the gelatin, mashed potatoes and gravy. When he pointed to some corn, Kate spoke up.
“Henry, you have enough. You’ll never eat all of what you’ve taken.”
“Let him get it, Kate,” Jonah said quietly, and then he turned to Henry. “I told him to get whatever he wants and I don’t mind. If it’s all right with your mother, go ahead, Henry. Get the corn and whatever else you want.”
Kate looked at Jonah and then nodded to Henry, who took the dish of corn. Next, he wanted a fluffy white roll, and then chocolate cake.
They sat at a table by a window, where they could see across a grassy expanse to cars moving on the busy thoroughfare.
Henry cleaned up the bowl of gelatin first and then started on his fried chicken and mashed potatoes. While he ate, Jonah turned to Kate. “We need to work something out.”
She nodded and gave him a worried glance. “We’ll work out a schedule, but please understand, Jonah, I have to get settled and get him into a day care facility.”
“When are you moving your things from North Carolina?”
“There wasn’t much to move. I sold nearly everything before I left, and we’re sort of starting over now.”
Surprised, Jonah remembered the house he had shared with Kate, a comfortable three-bedroom home in a booming neighborhood. Kate’s parents’ house had been a desirable two-story in a pleasant, older suburb. In the divorce he had let Kate have the house and one car.
She kept her eyes down as she ate, and he studied her again, sure her clothing and jewelry were inexpensive.
“You sold both houses and you didn’t keep any furniture—not what we had or any of your folks’ things?” he asked, giving her close scrutiny.
“I kept a few little things, which I have in the car with me,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Kate, what happened?” he asked, puzzled by her answer. “Even if our possessions gave you bad memories, you loved your parents’ things. I can’t believe you let them go. What did you do with them?”
“I sold them,” she said, busily cutting a thick slice of roast beef. “This is a delicious lunch, Jonah.”
“So you don’t have furniture? Are you going to rent a furnished apartment?” he asked, surprised again, and realizing things must have gone really badly for her to sell both houses and all the furniture. Yet where had the money gone?
“Yes,” she admitted with obvious reluctance.
“Why, Kate? You had a rewarding job and your dad had his own business.”
“I’m sure you remember that Mom and Dad had the roller rink.”
“Sure, I remember. It was a thriving operation,” he replied.
“It was up until the time that we married, but it started slipping then. By the time we divorced, the neighborhood had changed and a bigger, newer rink was built in a better part of town. Instead of getting out, Dad held on. During that time he lost their health insurance because he couldn’t keep up the premiums. Finally he lost the business.”
“Sorry, Kate,” Jonah said tightly, still consumed by anger over Henry, and trying to listen as well as think ahead and make some plans. “What happened then?”
“Dad got a job selling furniture, but it wasn’t an adequate salary and he didn’t have benefits. Then he had a stroke.”
“Sorry,” Jonah repeated, remembering Kate’s father, with his bushy brown hair and his booming voice. The man had seemed so jovial and strong.
“Mom had a part-time job,” Kate continued. Jonah gazed into her wide, hazel eyes, his gaze lowering to her full, red lips. He didn’t want to look at her mouth or recall her kisses, but he did remember vividly, far too clearly. He caught the faint scent of her perfume. Memories from the past mixed with anger from the present, and he had to struggle to focus on what she was telling him.
“…but she had to quit to take care of Dad, and then suddenly I was taking care of both of them. They sold their house and moved in with me.”
“So why don’t you have your things? Surely you didn’t sell them, too.”
She nodded. “Yes, I did. I had to, because of their heart troubles. Without insurance, the medical bills were astronomical, and I had to quit my job to take care of them.”
“You have an aunt and uncle and cousins. Didn’t any of them help?”
“No, they didn’t,” she replied, shaking her head. “They have their own families to take care of. But I managed and didn’t have to go into debt, and I have some money saved for us to start out on. Also, I think I have a promising job lined up. This was a temporary setback, and we survived it.”
He gazed into her luminous eyes and knew if anyone could cope with
